


I'll Turn You Into Me

by karfishylicious



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Stockholm Syndrome, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 07:32:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5576806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karfishylicious/pseuds/karfishylicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack keeps corrupting Rhys into doing what he wants. Rhys eventually gives in</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Turn You Into Me

**Author's Note:**

> this was based off of a drawing that gongors did on tumblr that had some rad tags to it. queue a angsty story. its not long and bad so w/e

*~Cover yourself in marks so you're all special~*  
*~Call yourself a god and a king but you're nothing~*  
*~Oh, you're pathetic and you're so terrible~*  
*~I'll protect you kiddo and turn you into me~*  
\---  
The last thing Rhys wanted was to be like Jack. He refused to end up a murderer and a tyrant to Hyperion. But Jack was slowly corrupting his mind, erroding his conscience and causing Rhys to slip even deeper into madness.

"You're gonna go far, kiddo. I just know it."

Rhys knew Jack was lying just to get to him, but the small part of him that still idolized the monster kept holding on, begging for Jack to be telling the truth. So he kept Jack around, to appease the small part. Rhys could easily remove Jack from his head and the systems of Helios forever, but he didn't. He wanted to try and change Jack, to convince him that he could be a good guy in the end. That Jack could actually be the hero for once and help Rhys rule Hyperion the way that Rhys wanted. 

Jack never surprised Rhys. He kept his same old murderous personality Constantly kept urging Rhys to kill, kill, kill. Someone missed an important deadline? Toss them out the airlock. Someone spilled a drink on his shirt? Snap their neck. It was always death with Jack. It was becoming more and more difficult to ignore Jack. He was in Rhys' dreams, in his thoughts and in his nightmares. Soon, Rhys became used to his taunts and eventually gave in.

The first time he pulled his gun on an employee and shot them through the skull, it shook him so much he had to step out of work for a few days. That wasn't the best idea. When he was alone he was plagued by Jacks encouragement and happiness. "You finally did it, Rhysie! Doesn't it feel great?" he would always say. After a while it did feel good. Watching the life leave someones eyes as he pressed his thumbs around their throat harder became like a favorite television show to him. Every day Jack would praise Rhys, telling him that Rhys was fufilling his destiny, and that he was worthy to be Jacks replacement.

The last straw though, was when Jack decided to give Rhys a 'final test'. Rhys walked into his office one day to see his old friend Vaughn sitting in his office, looking absolutely terrified. When he saw Rhys, his eyes widened and he stood up and backed up into his desk, hands white from gripping the wood and skin pale as glass. He could hear Jack whisper in his ear, and could almost feel the ghost of his hand on his shoulder.

"Kill him Rhys, and I will give you everything."

Rhys unconsciously reached for Vaughn, stepping forward and trapping him in. His mind was blank as he wrapped his hands around Vaughns neck and squeezed, ignoring the gasp for air and the cry that he omitted. He watched, almost as if he was not the one in control. He watched as Vaughns face turned blue and relaxed. He barely felt the brush of a hand on his face as Vaughns eyes turned blank and his body slumped against the desk.  
When Rhys comes to, he looks down at Vaughn and slowly realizes what he has done. Rhys stumbles back in shock and his eyes fill up with tears. Why did he do that? Why didn't he stop? Did he lose his last bit of humanity? Did Jack finally win? 

...no

Rhys couldn't let Jack win. Not ever. This was it for him.

Wracked with grief, Rhys slowly walked to the computer and grabbed for the hard drive that would fully place Jack back into his head. He jabbed it into his port and the blue hologram of Jack appeared to him one last time. Jack was confused at first, but when he saw Rhys reach for his holstered gun, he hurridly tried to talk to Rhys.

"You don't want to do this, think of what you can accomplish Rhys! You can do amazing things! Please, Rhys! I don't want to die! Please, please, please!"

All of Jack's words didn't phase Rhys. No amount of sweet talk and lies could make him stop. Jack made him kill his best friend. He hadn't even seen him in months. He was so caught up in appeasing Jack that he never realized what was happening to him. The Stockholm Syndrome had become too much to bear. Rhys raised the gun to his temple, expression stoic as he stared Jack right in the eyes.

"I can't let you live, Jack. You'll keep corrupting and killing and you'll never learn. I'm doing everyone a favor. I'm the real hero, Jack. You're the coward."

And when he pulled the trigger, the last thing he saw was Jack fading away into blue code, silently screaming Rhys' name, and everything faded to black.


End file.
